Edward's Day Out
by NeverLander852
Summary: The story of the first story from the Railway Series book 'The Three Railway Engines', told as if it was in the TV series today. [I do not own Thomas & Friends, or The Railway Series, but I do own my OC Nigel.]


**Edward's Day Out**

The story of the first story from the Railway Series book 'The Three Railway Engines', told as if it was in the TV series today.

 **[I do not own Thomas & Friends, or The Railway Series, but I do own my OC Nigel.]**

* * *

 _Edward is one of the oldest engines on the Island of Sodor._

 _He is the same colour as Thomas, and he's also the same size as James._

 _And he has the number 2 painted on his tender._

Edward brought Gordon's coaches to him at Knapford Station, and shunted trucks in the shunting yard.

 _Edward was a mixed-traffic engine; so he could pull coaches and trucks._

Later, Edward was helping James up Gordon's Hill with a long train of **very** troublesome trucks.

 _And he also worked as a back engine to help engines struggling up Gordon's hill._

"Thank you Edward." James said. "These trucks are really troublesome, but thanks to you, I'll be at the docks in no time!"

"You're welcome, James!" Edward said. "Don't let those trucks beat you!" he called as James disappeared over the top.

 _Edward was also known as one of the kindest engines on the Fat Controller's railway._

Edward stopped at the junction to let Thomas by with his coaches Annie & Clarabel.

"Thank you, Edward." Thomas said. "You're a really good friend!" "So are you!" Edward said, proudly.

 ** _[Flashback of the beginning scene at Knapford from_** _The Adventure Begins_ ** _]_**

 _Edward was especially a good friend to Thomas, but a long time ago, Thomas wasn't around, and Edward usually worked in the shunting yard at Knapford Station._ _But the truth was, Edward wasn't even **in** the yard some time ago..._

* * *

 _Edward's first trip out of his shed was a long, long, long time ago, back before James or_ _even Thomas_ _first came to the Island of Sodor. The man in charge of the railway back then was Sir Jonathan Hatt, The Fat Controller's father, who was nicknamed 'The Fat Director'._

 _Edward lived in Tidmouth Sheds with 5 other bigger engines; 2 of them were named Gordon and Henry. There were also 3 other engines, one was called Nigel, a engine who was roughly around the same size as Edward and had James' old black livery_ [but he didn't have James' number] _, and 2 other engines about the same size as Gordon. They were new, so they didn't have names yet; only their numbers: 98462 and 87546._

 _Edward, Gordon, and Henry and the other engines were on trial by The Fat Director, for the new North Western railway._ _98462 and 87546 both liked to tease Edward and boast about being big and grand._

98462 looked disdainfully at Edward [who was in a dark green livery]. "The driver won't choose you again." he said rudely. "Yeah!" 87546 said. "He wants big strong engines like us."

Gordon and Henry [who also had dark green liveries] rolled their eyes at 98462 and 87546's comments

 _Edward felt quite unhappy by that, but he knew they were right: he_ _had not been out for a long time since he'd arrived to the island._

 _At that moment, his driver and fireman came along to start work. They felt quite sorry for Edward._

"Why are you sad?" he asked Edward. "I haven't been out for ages." Edward said. "I really wish I could be useful." "Would you like to come out today?" asked the driver. "Oh yes, please!" Edward said, piping up at last.

 _So, Edward's fireman lit the fire, and made a nice lot of steam. When Edward's boiler was bubbling nicely, he pulled the lever, and Edward slowly puffed out of the shed. he felt very excited._

"Look at me now!" Edward said to the other engines as he blew his whistle and puffed away.

 _The other engines were very cross at being left behind. But Gordon and Henry didn't mind - they had always wanted Edward to go out for a while, anyway._

* * *

 _Away went Edward to get some coaches. The coaches were very delicate, and they didn't like being banged and bumped, mostly because of the bigger engines being in a hurry._

Edward carefully backed down on 3 orange coaches that had the same shape as the Slip Coaches from the TV series, but in the orange colours of the coaches seen in the 'Three Railway Engines' book of _The Railway Series_.

"Be careful, Edward." said the 3 orange coaches, "Don't bump and bang us like the other engines do."

 _So, Edward came up to the coaches, very, very gently, and the shunter fastened the coupling. The coaches were very impressed._

"Thank you Edward," the coaches said. "That was very kind; and we are very glad you are taking us today."

 _Then, they went to the station, where the passengers were waiting._

"Ok, get in quickly, please." Edward said. The passengers got into the coaches.

 _Once the passengers were in the coaches, Edward waited for the guard to blow his whistle, and wave his green flag. He waited..._

 ** _[clock shifts 15 minutes]_**

 _...and waited..._

 ** _[clock shifts 15 minutes again]_**

 _and waited. But there was no whistle, and no green flag, and no guard._

Edward was beginning to get anxious. "Where is that guard?" he sighed.

 _Edward's driver and fireman asked the stationmaster if he'd seen the guard._

"No, sorry." the stationmaster said.

 _Then, they asked the porter._

"Have you seen the guard?" "Yes, last night." the porter said.

 _Edward was beginning to get cross._

"Are we **ever** going to start?" he said impatiently. "The passengers will be complaining before long."

Just then, a boy, resembling James from _Fireman Sam_ shouted, "Here he comes!"

 _Almost immediately, the guard came, running onto the platform, panting._

"Sorry I'm late." he panted. "Slept through my alarm clock. But I'm here now." He blew his whistle, waved his flag, and got into the back coach.

"Come on, old boy." Edward's driver said. "Let's make up for lost time."

 _Edward left the station, and set off down the branch line._

 _ **[a rendition of Edward's theme plays by Chris Renshaw as Edward puffs along the line to every station, and through the tunnel, then past Farmer Trotter's farm.]**_

 _He had such a happy day, and worked very hard. The coaches thought he was very kind, the children waved when they saw him, and the driver was very pleased. So was the Fat Director._

"Well done, Edward." The Fat Director said. "Your test has proven quite successful. You have proved you were a Really Useful engine. And erm... in spite of the... hold-up, you still got the passengers to the station on time." Thank you, Sir." Edward said.

"You are a brilliant engine, Edward." his driver said. "And I promise I will take you out again the next day."

 _Edward felt very happy with that news._

"I'm going out again tomorrow." he told the other engines that night in the shed. "What do you think of that?"

 _The other engines were still cross at being left behind, but Edward didn't hear what they thought; he was so tired and happy that he fell asleep at once._

* * *

 _The next day, The Fat Director was running through the test results of the trial engines. He soon made a decision._

He picked up the phone. "Send back 98462 and 87546, please," he said firmly. "I will write my reviews later."

 _Later that evening, The Fat Director came to the sheds, once 98462 and 87546 had been sent away._

"I am pleased to announce," he said, "that Nigel, Gordon, Henry, and Edward will be the ones to work on Sodor for the North Western railway. Your test results all passed with flying colours." Nigel, Gordon, Henry, and Edward were very happy at that. "We'll do our best to make this a good railway, sir." Henry said.

"Exactly." said The Fat Director. "So, first thing tomorrow, you, Gordon, and Edward will go to the Steamworks to get some new coats of paint."

"Yes sir." Edward, Gordon and Henry all said at once.

"So what happened to 98462 and 87546?" Gordon asked Nigel in the sheds that night. "Well," Nigel said, "I heard the Fat Director saying 'I heard all about what you said to Edward yesterday. I am sending both of you back to the mainland immediately! I will not tolerate insults on my railway!' And that afternoon, they were both sent away in disgrace."

"Well, I'd say they deserved it." Gordon said indignantly. "Now, let's go to sleep."

 _And with that, the 4 remaining engines fell fast asleep._

* * *

 _The next day, at the Steamworks, Edward, Gordon and Henry all went bright and early to the Steamworks to get repainted._

 ** _[a montage of Henry getting his old livery scraped off, then the green livery he has on today getting painted on, complete with red lines, and a yellow number 3.]_**

 _Henry had a lighter green color, with red stripes, and he had the number 3 painted on his tender._

 ** _[a montage of Gordon & Edward getting their green liveries scraped off, then they get their bright blue paint getting painted on, complete with red lines, and a yellow number 4 for Gordon, and a yellow number 2 for Edward, respectively.]_**

 _Whereas Gordon and Edward got painted in the colours The Fat Director liked to see on the North Western railway, blue with red stripes, and they both got their numbers - Gordon got the number 4, and Edward_ _got the number_ _2._

"You both look amazing!" Henry said. "Yes, Henry, we do!" Gordon said.

"You are amazing!" Nigel said. "Especially you, Edward!" Edward was very happy to hear that. "I can't wait to start work on the railway soon!" he said.

"We'll be Really Useful!" all 4 engines said together.

 _And they were._

* * *

 ** _[Instrumental of Really Useful Engine from The Adventure Begins plays in the montage]_**

 _Edward and Nigel worked well together, pulling coaches and trucks. Gordon managed the express line, and Henry did well with his coaches and trucks. The line was kept in well running order._

 ** _[The Fat Director enters his office, putting his top hat on a hatstand. Timelapse about 20 years or so later. Sir Topham Hatt, the Fat Controller, the current man in charge of the railway, gets his top hat from the hatstand.]_**

 _And when Sir Johnathan Hatt retired, his son, Sir Topham Hatt, became the new controller._

 ** _[The Adventure Begins clips of 'The Sad Story of Henry']_**

 _And even though there were a few... mishaps, the engines all worked hard to make the railway a great place._

 _And when Nigel was bought by some businessmen to work on a new railway far away, the 3 Sodor railway engines saw him off with a smile, especially Edward._

 _And some time after that, a new black engine came by, an engine with the same black paint as Nigel, but with a gold dome, and a yellow number 5._

"Ta-da! Here's James!" the new engine said, arriving in the yard.

 _Edward smiled. James was an amazing new friend._

 ** _[Clip of Edward's branchline from 'Old Reliable Edward']_**

 _And very soon, Edward proved himself worthy of having his very own branch line, the line that runs to Brendam Docks._

 ** _[to present day of Edward puffing along the line with coaches in the evening]_**

 _And even though he's lived on the island for many years, he has proven he's a Really Useful engine indeed._

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_**

 _Italic_ is for the narrator, _and **Bold italic**_ is for flashbacks and timelapse things.

 **Fun fact:** Nigel was once a member of 'The Pack' that was dropped from the series altogether, so I reworked him into the 'black engine' that tried to push Henry out of the tunnel in **_'The Sad Story of Henry'_** clips from _The Adventure Begins_.

Anyway, I guess that's what the Railway Series book story **'Edward's Day Out'** would look like if it was in the TV series today. Do you think that's how it would look?

 _ **READ & REVIEW!**_


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